Safety relief valves often comprise a valve body having an outlet port disposed in proximity to an inlet passageway with a spring biased valve normally seated on a valve seat intersecting the inlet passageway to block fluid flow below a predetermined pressure limit, or set point pressure. Fluid pressure exceeding the set point will unseat the valve by compressing the spring, thereby permitting fluid flow while the fluid pressure remains above the set point pressure.
A commonly used safety valve design employs a precision valve such as a hemispherical valve disposed in a huddling chamber and seated on a precision metal or elastomeric seat. This type of relief valve enjoys the economy of manufacture of a precision valve member mated with a spherical lapped seat. While economical to manufacture, these valves can suffer from a relatively short service life due to a rapid deterioration of both the valve and the lapped seating surface as a result of mechanical reseating impact.
There is therefore a continued need for improvements to address these and other limitations of the prior art, and it is to such improvements that various embodiments of the present invention are generally directed.